Photo: Hanoi Department of Health

The number of recoveries hits a record figure of over 1.67 million

An additional 88,378 new Covid-19 infections were confirmed by the Ministry of Health on March 29 to bring the country’s total caseload up to more than 9.38 million, while the number of recovered cases hit a record high of 1,679,138.

The three localities recording the highest number of new cases included Hanoi with 8,993, the northern province of Bac Giang with 4,047, and the central province of Nghe An with 3,817. In relation to the latest daily tally, 61,258 cases were detected within the community.

The nation’s Covid-19 death toll climbed to 42,306, with a further 55 deaths recorded over the past 24 hours. Furthermore, the total number of recovered cases rose to 7,153, 846 following the Health Ministry’s confirmation of 1,679, 138 recoveries on the same day.

Photo: VTC

Socio-economic performance brisk in Q1 with Covid-19 under control

Thanks to the safe, flexible adaptation and effective control of Covid-19, the labor market in the first quarter of the year has shown signs of improvement, with the number of employed people and their average monthly income seeing an increase compared to the same period from last year. This information was provided by the General Statistics Office (GSO) during a press briefing to discuss socio-economic performance in the first quarter of the year held on March 29 in Hanoi.

During the press conference, Nguyen Thi Huong, general director of the GSO, said that both the unemployment and underemployment rates in the working-age declined compared to the previous quarter despite still being higher than the same period last year, showing a gradual fall.

Specifically, the country's labor force aged 15 and over the first quarter of the year stood at an estimated 51.2 million people, an increase of more than 441,000 people compared to the previous quarter and a rise of roughly 159,000 compared to the same period from last year.

The labor force participation rate was at 68.1%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter and a drop of 0.6 percentage points from last year's corresponding period. Employed laborers aged 15 were estimated to be at 50 million people, an increase of 132.2 thousand people over the same period last year. During the review period, people's lives continued to face plenty of difficulties due to the strong outbreak of the pandemic. However, greater attention at all levels was given to social security work in a bid to help people ensure their lives and jobs.

Photo: Luat Viet Nam

Expert: Covid-19 can be considered an endemic disease.

BA.2 and BA.1, two variants of the Omicron strain with the ability to spread faster, do not cause severe cases like the Delta variant, particularly among children, meaning Covid-19 can therefore be considered an endemic disease. This assessment was made by Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, former head of the Department of Infection - Neurology at the Children's Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, before the evolution of the pandemic, with the Omicron variant predominating.

Discussing the matter with a VOV reporter, Dr. Khanh said that the Omicron variant has eased the severity of Covid-19 and stressed that the sub-variant of Omicron, BA.2, did not have a severe impact like BA.1. According to statistics, since the beginning of March sub-variants of Omicron have shown quick infection ability in recent times in provinces nationwide, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, while gradually replacing the Delta strain as the dominant variant.

Studying data taken from more than 1.8 million cases over a three-month period from November 2021, to February, scientists found only 47 cases were re-infected with the BA.2 variant after previously getting the BA.1 strain, with most being unvaccinated.

Assessing the infection evolution of the Omicron variant, domestic and foreign experts both said that BA.2 is more infectious than BA.1, with severe cases and deaths being markedly lower. This demonstrates the immunity of the human body to the appearance of any sub-variants.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 29): Infections on Downward Trajectory On average the daily number of fresh infections recorded in Vietnam in the past seven days remains high at 109,424 cases.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 27): Covid-19 Caseload Continues to See Downward Trend By the end of March 25, more than 204 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered nationwide.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 26): Daily Covid-19 Rate Falls Sharply Since the beginning of the pandemic, Vietnam has recorded 8,761,252 Covid-19 cases, ranking 14 out of 225 countries and territories globally.